Dolls Movie Review 2002

Lyrical Japanese film intertwines three character studies into a wistful movie about devotion and lost love. A man literally ties himself to the girl he loves after realizing his weaknesses drove her to attempt suicide. A gang lord remembers the promise given to a girlfriend 30 years earlier. Thirty years later he returns to the park where they met, finding her still waiting. The final chapter fumbles the connection a bit, focusing on a famous pop star becoming disfigured in an auto accident. She flees the public eye, only to let one devoted fan into her life. Lush photography and landscapes are pure dazzling eye candy, but the emotionally syrupy excess may turn off some audiences.

Distribution

Palm Pictures, 727 N. Hudston St., Ste. 100, Chicago, IL 60610, Phone: (312)751-0020, Fax: (312)751-2483

Available on DVD
Running time 113 minutes.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Romantic Drama, Japan, Puppets, Anthology, Yakuza, Suicide

Screenplay

Takeshi "Beat" Kitano

Cast

Tatsuya Mihashi, Chieko Matsubara, Miho Kanno, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Kyoko Fukada, Sebastian Blenkov

Cinematography

Katsumi Yanagijima

Director

Takeshi "Beat" Kitano

Music

Joe Hisaishi

Other

Senji Horiuchi, Takeshi "Beat" Kitano, Yohji Yamamoto, Norihiro Isoda

Producer

Masayuki Mori, Takio Yoshida, Office Kitano, A Bandai Visual, Tokyo FM, TV Tokyo